Tuesday, July 7, 2009

More from Biblical Keys to Financial Prosperity

Can I please share a portion of the Introduction of this book?

"One of the most difficult tasks in ministering to folks is getting them to understand the truth that God wants them to prosper and do well in life. In fact, God wants them to prosper more than they want to! Many good Christian people have never entered into the dimension of prosperity that God intended for them, and one reason they haven't is a lack of understanding in this area.If you want to walk in the perfect will of God and experience His richest and best for your life, you've got to do the perfect will of God. That requires honoring and obeying God and His Word.Many Christians are not prospering today because they are not willing and obedient to the call of God on their lives or to some specific direction God has given them. Others simply need to get their thinking straightened out so they can think, talk, and act in line with God's Word concerning prosperity.Still others give financially with wrong motives- just to get something in return. Or they give motivated by guilt or fear instead of by faith and love. And some Christians dishonor God and His Word, not only by failing to tithe and give offerings, but in the way they conduct their business affairs.Success in God doesn't come overnight. And if you're not prospering in life right now, your prosperity in God won't appear overnight either. But if you'll continually honor and obey God and His Word, it will come."

Chapter 1: Poverty: A Blessing or a Curse. Chapter 1 is a great read. It lays the foundation of the entire redemption process from Adam and Eve and the death of Jesus on the cross. The it discusses the Curse of the Law. The curse of the law which is the penalty for breaking God's Law, includes spiritual death, sickness and disease, and poverty. Galations 3:13 says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law. Period. You can choose to believe it or not. I personally think it's kind of useless to only believe parts of the Bible. Either you believe it or you don't. We didn't create the universe and mankind, what the heck do we know? No, if God says it then I just need to choose to believe it and not dissect it with what I think is the more likely truth.

Galations 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

The Bible says Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law.

But what is the curse of the law?Deuteronomy 28:15 15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shalt come upon thee, and overtake thee.(sorry but this is so worth the read!!)Deuteronomy 28:16-19, 38-4016 Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.17 Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store.18 Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.19 Cursed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be when thou goest out...38 Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.39 Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them. 40 Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not annoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.Deuteronomy 28:1-14 lists all of the blessings for keeping God's law. It's really long but please read them. The curses listed certainly sound like poverty to me and the writer of the book too. At first I didn't quite understand what that curse meant. Did God curse me because I was not obedient and willing to do all his commands? Was it because I was not meditating on His Word night and day like the Word says to? Was it because His praise was not on my lips like his Word says it should be? Or was it because my words had been a trap to me because I was speaking negative things about our life? Well, it was all of those things but the author goes on at the end of the book to explain that there are just spiritual laws that are in effect for all of us. He likens it to gravity. We have the law of gravity right? No matter who you are you are under the law of gravity. It doesn't matter if you don't want to believe in it or not, gravity works for you. It is a law. There are spiritual laws too, so it's not necessarily that God looked down at us and said, "That family needs to be cursed.". It's just a spiritual law that is in effect for all of us. The only way to not operate in that law is to do what God says that we must do to be blessed and not cursed right? Simple enough, I was excited to learn those things.

I am taking this from the book because I know what some people will think. "Oh, that was just for back then, not now. Let's see what the author says. (This is worth the time!)

"A lot of people argue, "Well the Lord said that to Israel. The blessings for obeying God's laws and commandments don't apply to us."But while we're on the subject of the Law, turn to Romans and Galatians.Remember God said, "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and withe their children for ever!" (Deut. 5:29)Yes, that was written to Israel under the Old Covenant. But notice what the New Covenant says about fulfilling or obeying God's laws and commandments.Romans 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another:for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.Galations 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.Mark that down and don't let it get away from you. Israel had to keep God's commandments in order to prosper, and under the New Covenant we have a commandment to keep, too, in order to prosper. It's the commandment or law of love.Notice Paul was writing that to Gentile Christians, not to Hebrew Christians, so we know he's not talking just to the Israelites. So if we're walking in love, we've fulfilled the Law.

Romans 13: 9,10 explains to keep the commandments and that love is the fulfilling of the law. Now go back to Galations 3:13 and 14 again and you'll see why we're not under the curse of the Law. 13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: 14 That the Blessing of Abraham might come on the gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.... 29 And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Well, what is Abraham's promise? Abraham's promise was threefold in nature. It was first a spiritual blessing. Second it was a physical blessing. And third, it was a financial and material blessing.

I'll stop here. Tomorrow I'll pick up. Long enough post and enough to chew on don't you think? I have really enjoyed this book!! I just want to say that in no way does the author or do I think that God intends for life to be perfect and have no trials. No matter who we are we need to be refined, disiplined and conformed into His image. But what he is saying is that there are spiritual laws and that to live a life in poverty, sickness, and sin is NOT God's plan for us and while most of us get the whole sin and eternal death thing, we need to belive God also for the poverty and sickness part too. Remember Jesus could do little miracles in his own hometown not because he wasn't full of the power to heal and do miracles but because of their lack of faith. We need to have faith in those things too and obey the word, not just be a hearer of it. I just felt I needed a disclaimer there.

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About Me

My name is Jennifer & I write a blog because God placed it in my heart to do so. I was 30 before I could say I truly loved the Lord & Jesus even though I had been saved since the age of 8. Ever since a spectacular morning when God met me in my van in 2003 I have been seeking Him & learning & loving & having a great time with Jesus. I enjoy learning more & more about Him and helping others who are saved but do not have a personal relationship come to have that closeness. I am a busy mom of 4. The oldest is 24 & the youngest is 9. I am funny & I like to fantasize about being a stand up comedian & a talk show host. So many opinions, so little time.